1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and to a method for identifying a service processor. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for identifying a service processor with current information settings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Service processors are typically used to monitor the environmental health of a data processing system. Service processors also contain information that persists even when power is removed from the data processing system. The persisted information is pertinent to the continuity and successful operation of the data processing system. Examples of the persisted information include recovery policies and customer specific passwords.
In a logical partitioned configuration, commonly referred to as LPAR, service processors are typically moved from one data processing system to another data processing system as part of the repair process. Because the customer specific settings are stored on the service processor itself, the customer specific settings may also move as a result of moving the service processor. Consequently, customer specific settings may be lost or become outdated if the correct service processor is not matched with the correct customer's data processing system.
The use of redundant service processors in a single data processing system mitigates the possibility of lost or outdated data. However, the possibility of multiple sets of customer settings also now exists. In other words, in one data processing system, a current set of customer settings could exist on one service processor, while another outdated set of customer settings could exist on another service processor.
Relying on the data time stamp alone to determine which service processor has the most current data is insufficient. Data time stamps are attached to a service processor after the service processor moves into the data processing system. Therefore, a service processor incorporated after a data processing system shuts down may have a newer data time stamp than a redundant service processor that was in the data processing system when the data processing system last booted up. The redundant service processor with the older data time stamp has the most current customer settings since the redundant service processor last interacted with the data processing system. However, the service processor incorporated later has the newer data time stamp. Thus, relying upon the data time stamp will result in the usage of the wrong service processor.